Imperfect Platitudes
by Lliri
Summary: Arthur thought it would be a normal sort of summer, working at an excavation somewhere in the middle of the Mesoamerican rainforest. Then he met Merlin. No set pairings, rated for a possibility of violent spirits and undead armies.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

The night air was warm and damp as Arthur Pendragon stepped off the plane, followed by his half-sister Morgana Pendragon. The pair of them looked suitably imposing as they surveyed their surroundings for a few moments.

"Uther said that someone would be here to meet us. I don't see anyone waiting." Morgana said disdainfully.

"No." agreed Arthur. "We'll just have to wait, then." He set his suitcase down with a sigh and began to flip through his emails on his Iphone. Who knew if the ruins even had reception? Morgana took out his ear buds and started to flip through her music. Arthur could hear a tinny Lady Gaga singing through her speakers.

Two Lady Gaga songs, one Imagine Dragons tune, and some Tinie Tempah later, a roofless car turned up. It bounced along the road with its wheels jangling it its sockets. It was a perfect picture of quaint, half-broken down industry. It abruptly came to a stop a few metres away from Arthur. A tall, skinny man nearly launched himself out of the car, stumbling over his own feet and losing his balance.

His arms wildly pin wheeled and Arthur was sure he was going to end up flat on his face. Miraculously, the man came to a stop right in front of Arthur with his hand extended and a ridiculously happy smile on his face.

"Are you Arthur and Morgana? I'm supposed to pick you up." He leaned around to smile at Morgana. "You look like an Arthur and Morgana. Not that I have a frame of reference. But still."

"Yes, are you Merlin?" Arthur asked quickly, before the man could keep talking.

"I am him. Sorry I'm late, Gaius made me clean out the lizard tank before I left." Merlin flashed them a brilliant grin.

"Gaius, as in the overseer of the dig?" Arthur asked. A man called Leon was the official overseer, but everyone he had talked to said that Gaius was the one who was really in charge.

"Ya. He's my uncle. He seems to think that means he can make me do chores whenever he wants." Arthur chuckled. Merlin stepped around him and took Morgana's suitcase from her and started loading it into the back of the car. Morgana tugged it out of his hands.

"I'll do that for myself, thanks." Morgana said coolly. Merlin didn't seem to be offended by this; in fact, his grin increase by a fraction of an inch. Arthur shoved his own suitcase into the back of the car and they took off. He had already started to tune out some of Merlin's chatter.

Merlin's driving would be called erratic at best. He swerved randomly around the trees and animals that seemed to pop up everywhere. As Merlin took a particularly sharp corner Arthur turned visibly green.

"So what are you two doing at this dig?" Merlin asked cheerfully. Arthur just nodded weakly; If he opened his mouth he would probably puke.

"Oh, are you feeling queasy? Don't worry, the nausea should wear off once with hit the highway." Merlin told them sympathetically. He kept chattering mindlessly at them until they reached the highway and his companions were able to speak again.

"What are you doing at the dig, then?" Merlin asked again.

"I'm working on translating some of the texts that they've already excavated. Arthur is working in mapping and inventorying the inside of the temple." Morgana answered.

"Hey, that means that Arthur will be working with me and Lance, and you'll be working with Freya and Will." Merlin told Morgana. Arthur marvelled inwardly at Merlin. He hadn't stopped smiling once since they had met him. Arthur reminded himself to keep his mind on task.

"How much of the temple have you already gotten through?" he asked.

"We've only done the first few rooms. There are traps in some of them, so we need to be careful. Lance nearly got hit with a poisoned blow-dart earlier today. Hunith is going to kill me when she finds out." Merlin told him.

Arthur was desperately trying to keep the names straight. There was Merlin, Gaius the overseer/uncle, a fellow named Lance, and a woman named Hunith so far. He had mentioned two others, who Morgana was going to work with, but he couldn't recall their names.

And Merlin just kept talking.

"Remind me to introduce you to Gwen. You'll like her. She works in artifact preservation. Then there's Leon. He basically makes everything happen around here. You'll like him too. There's Gwaine. Don't let him get too close to your work, Morgana. Geoffrey is our archivist. If you have any questions, ask him. Then there's Percival, Morgause, Elyan and Mordred…You'll get to know them all eventually." Merlin prattled on. Desperate for the names to stop coming at him, Arthur made a stab at conversation.

"So, why are you here?" Arthur asked.

"Gaius asked me to drive you." Merlin deadpanned.

"No, I mean what are you doing at the dig."

"Mapping the inside of the temple. And lots of inventory."

"I meant- Oh, never mind!" Arthur growled.

"Don't be a prat." Merlin told him. A few seconds later, they pulled into a small parking lot not far from the jungle.

"The temple is inside the jungle. We need to walk the rest of the way. It's a good thing you didn't bring much luggage. Want me to take yours, Morgana?" he teased. Before she could answer, he had hopped out of the car and taken it, walking towards the dark forest.

"Come on then!" he yelled, turning back to look at them for a second.

Arthur gulped. The forest was very big. And he was so very, very small.

Grabbing his own luggage, Arthur started to run after the boy.

"Merlin!" he yelled.


	2. Singing at the Sing Along

**Chapter 2**

They reached the temple after a twenty minute walk. Because of the distance from any other human civilization, they were going to be eating an awful lot of freeze-dried military meals for the rest of the summer. Morgana looked down at her figure in dismay. She would have her work cut out to keep her looks up to their usual standard. They would be sleeping, eating and bathing around the temple area for the whole summer.

There was a scattering of temporary shelters and tents set up in the clearing. She could make out a huge shape that looked like the temple, but she couldn't see any details. In the center of a group of tents there was a small fire crackling with a group of people sitting on logs around it. A boy with light brown hair waved at Merlin, and they joined the group.

After a brief flurry of introductions, Arthur found himself wedged in between a drunk man named Gwaine and a curly haired man called Leon. Leon had a chart out and was examining it.

"Morgana, you'll be in tent C with Gwen, Freya, and Morgause. Arthur, you'll be in with Merlin and his brothers." Leon told them. He showed Arthur over to a tent where Merlin was setting up a bed. Merlin indicated that it was Arthur's, and he set his suitcase down underneath it.

"So is your whole family here then?" Arthur asked. Merlin nodded.

"Pretty much. You'll meet my brothers in a minute, and you can meet Gaius tomorrow. Hunith had to stay back at home to take care of her orchard. Actually, there comes Will now. Don't be offended if he doesn't like you." Merlin said, all in a rush. Will arrived in the tent a few seconds later.

"Why can't he go with Gwaine?" Will asked, as a way of greeting.

"The others have enough on their plates anyway. Besides, Arthur is going to work with Lance and me."

"Meanwhile, I slave away over these bloody texts." Will grumbled. Arthur had watched the whole exchange with a raised eyebrow. Did Will work in translation?

Lance and Mordred arrived a few minutes later. Seeing the four boys lined up, Arthur didn't see any family resemblance. At a stretch, he could see Mordred and Merlin being related- They both had dark hair and blue eyes. But Will and Lance looked completely different. Besides, they all had completely different faces!

He shrugged it off. He could worry about it in the morning. After the introductions were said, it was late and time to go to sleep. Within a few minutes, the tent was filled with the sounds of deep breathing. Arthur lay awake for a few minutes longer.

The sound of bugs chirping constantly. Birds were whistling at each other. The light patter of rain on the top of the tent. Everything about this place was completely foreign to Arthur. Eventually, he fell into an uneasy sleep.

XXX

The next Morning

"Arthur. Arthur. Arthur. Wake up. It's time for breakfast. Wake up." Merlin's face slowly came into focus above Arthur.

"Ah, he lives." Lance said cheerfully. From somewhere across the tent, Will made vague grumbling noises. Mordred was still passed out on his cot. Having taken stock of his companion's whereabouts, Arthur swung his feet over the edge of his cot. His back ached. His father was the richest man in Britain, but he still had to sleep in a tent in the middle of nowhere?

The world was going mad, he decided.

A few minutes later, they were sitting outside eating bacon and pancakes for breakfast. The grass was still damp underfoot, and the morning was hot and humid.

By eight in the morning, it was time to start work. Morgause led Morgana to an open sided tent where they would work on translating some of the artefacts they had already uncovered. Arthur, Merlin, and Lance started climbing the steps up the temple. He had barely been able to see the temple the night before, but he could see now that it was _huge._

It extended at least one hundred and fifty feet into the air and the top was covered by a giant, elaborate statue of a human. But this was so much more than a human. It had a vaguely reptilian feel to it, the mane of a lion, and cold, empty eyes that started off into the distance.

Arthur suppressed a shiver. The place just didn't feel quite… Safe.

Never having let that stop him in the past, he climbed up the steps after Lance and Merlin. They entered the first room, a sort of entrance chamber. The walls were covered in inscriptions, pictures of exotic creatures and people.

People, huge gluttonous people levitating piles of… something.

People, lying dead at others feet in some kind of ritual, or maybe a battle.

People in masks playing instruments.

Half snake, half human people with sad, lonely eyes.

People hunched over with the weight of the worlds on their backs.

People with calm, serene faces.

Three old men in hats, reading a tablet of fantastic symbols.

A man with unseeing gold eyes.

A voice cut into his thoughts.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" Lance said reverentially.

"There's so much detail." Arthur said. "What do they show?"

"See this one?" Lance asked. He gestured towards a mural of several men bleeding, some dead. "We think this is a picture showing an ancient Maya ritual called bloodletting. They thought that by cutting of part of their body they could communicate with their gods. They tried to get into a trance like state. See this ornamental blade thing? It would be used as an instrument to let the blood out. Then, they would collect it in a ceramic bowl."

"How do you know so much about this?"

"We take information from other digs. For example, at Yaxchilan, they found a series of three pictures that give us a lot of information on bloodletting. All of this is just one piece of the puzzle. People everywhere do digs or excavations and then we all pool our information."

"So what are we looking for here then?"

"Anything really. There's still so much we don't know." Lance answered.

A faint crash sounded from the other room.

"Merlin!" Lance yelled, rushing towards the noise. Arthur arrived a second later and saw a stressed looking Lance brushing Merlin off and pulling him to his feet.

"Sorry." Merlin said. "I just-"

"Tripped. Yes, of course you did." Lance said. "You really need to be more-"

"Careful." Said Merlin.

"Aware." Said Arthur.

"Attentive." Said Lance.

XXX

Later

"Cautious." Said Gaius.

"Contentious." Said Leon.

"Discreet." Said Morgana.

"Punctilious." Said Elyan.

"Watchful." Said Gwen.

Why was it _always _Merlin?

**A/N: You know when you get a chapter that rambles on without anything happening? That was how this felt. The next chapter will be up for Wednesday, though, and I guarantee something will happen in that.**


	3. A Bit of a Pickle

**Chapter 3**

The second day of Arthur's job was even more interesting than the first. Merlin had cracked open the heavy stone door to the next room.

"Drop!" he yelled, before hitting the floor himself. Arthur was halfway to the floor when he felt a small dart rush over his head. His heart rate doubled. It felt like it was going to leap out of his chest.

"Holy-"Arthur said weakly, after the danger had passed. "That was way too close for comfort." He pushed himself into a sitting position and glared at Merlin. "So this is what you meant when you said 'traps,' then?" he asked. He still felt weak and pale, although to his credit, you didn't almost die that often. "OK, do we push onwards?"

"Yep. We just need to clear the traps out of this room, and then Restoration can get started on analysing the room. George is coming up at noon to take the room's measurements and inventory."

"We'll want to be long done by then." Arthur said. Lancelot laughed and straightened up. He had just finished bagging the dart. Gaius liked for them to keep them so that he could analyse the poisons that the Mayan's had used.

"Oh, George isn't so bad. He just takes a little… Getting used to." Merlin defended.

"If he would stop making jokes about _fish, _of all things." Lancelot said. He nodded to Arthur and Merlin. "I'm going to bring this down for Gaius to analyse. Keep going, but please try not to get yourself killed. Arthur, don't let Merlin get himself hurt, OK?"

Arthur smiled and said yes. Merlin's smile got a little tense.

"I'm not fourteen anymore. I can take care of myself."

"Humor me."

Merlin huffed at that, but didn't protest. After Lancelot had left, Merlin and Arthur stepped into the next room. Now that Arthur knew that Merlin hadn't been kidding about the traps, he felt very, very aware that he could be stuck with a poisonous dart at any second.

Step. No traps.

Step. Duck. Avoid dart.

Step. No traps.

Step. Duck. Avoid dart.

Step. No-

The door suddenly slammed shut.

_OhmygoodnessI' . . .Don' ,amIgoingtodiereally?_

"Arthur. Don't move a muscle, OK? Stay completely still. We don't want to set off anymore traps." Merlin coached. His voice was edged with panic, but Arthur appreciated the effort.

"You're not going to panic and run?" Arthur asked. His voice was uncomfortably high. He concentrated on pushing it back down to its normal octave.

"No. You?" Merlin replied with equal care. (If asked later, Merlin would claim that Arthur screamed like a girl, and Arthur would say that Merlin squeaked.)

"Me. I'm good. Great. Never been better. What about you?" Arthur asked.

"My answer is the same as the first time you asked." Merlin replied.

"Right. So what do we do now?"

"I guess we just wait. Lance will come for us soon, and if he gets held up, George will be here at noon."

"What time is it now?"

"Oh, Seven-thirty. Give or take 5 minutes." _Great._

"This is ridiculous. I don't even know what I'm doing here." Arthur said angrily.

"What do you mean?" Merlin asked. His training had kicked in. He had to keep Arthur talking and making sure he didn't go into shock.

"Dad wanted me and Morgana to come work here for the summer. I don't understand why though."

"Hunith said that Gaius used to work for your fathers labs. I think she said Forensics. So maybe it's because of Gaius?"

"Hm. Maybe." Arthur said. He would ask Gaius later. "So how did you end up here?" Merlin had unwittingly distracted Arthur from their predicament, namely, being stuck in a deadly temple.

"Hunith thought it would be good for me and my brothers to get away from the city for the summer. There's no way Lance would let us go halfway across the world without him, so I guess we all ended up here."

Arthur wouldn't notice until several days later that Merlin had answered the question without telling him a thing.

After a few minutes, their talk died down. Arthur was drawn into his own thoughts.

Why had his father sent him here, of all places?

What had made the door slam shut?

How come there were so many traps in the temple?

Most of all, what was a giant temple doing in the middle of the rainforest?

XXX

Merlin was used to being in a constant state of activity. Standing still was not something

that came naturally to him, and he made up for it with a constant hum of activity. He tapped his fingers against each other like they were having mini seizures. But it wasn't enough. He had to do _something, _or he would probably do something Not Good, like panic and run.

He needed to be logical, needed to think this through in a nice, linear fashion. Needed to separate his mind from the situation and look at it as an objective, third person viewer. Needed to formulate a realistic plan and then follow through.

He wasn't panicking. _He wasn't panicking, goddammit!_

_ OK Merlin. Let's play the 'this-is-a-movie-and-we-need-to-tell-the-protagonist-what-to-do' game._

XXX

Arthur had been shipped off to some creepy temple in the middle of nowhere. He had been forced to work with the annoyingly perfect Lance and his kid brother, he had been _shot at _with _darts, _and he was stuck in a closed room with said kid brother. Arthur had had enough.

And then he noticed that Merlin had stopped talking. His sense automatically went on high alert.

"Merlin." He whispered.

"Why are you whispering?" Merlin whispered back.

"I could ask you the same thing. I was worried you were going into shock or something."

"I'm surprised you even know what shock is." Merlin retorted. He sounded panicked.

"Are you claustrophobic or something?" Arthur asked.

"No." _Defensive. _"In most cultures, they consider this sort of thing a _perfectly reasonable thing to panic about!_"

"Drivel." Arthur said dismissively. And then he heard a strange wheezing noise coming from across the room. He started to feel uneasy once again. If Merlin was panicking, he wouldn't know what to do.

"Just don't panic, OK? Lance or George will be here soon." He said awkwardly. He really wasn't any good at all this emotional stuff.

Oh.

Merlin wasn't panicking.

He was laughing.

And before Arthur knew what was happening, so was he.

**There was one more line I was dying to add, but it didn't work with the changes I made. So, just to be contrary, I shall add it in my authors note.**

_**It was so completely hopeless. Arthur lost it again.**_

**In the fanfiction world, R&R does not mean rest and relaxation. Bet you all know what it really means!**


	4. The Beans for Three Scenes

Lance was the most level-headed person he knew. He never really got flustered, and he was almost always prepared and on time. He was intelligent enough to get through high school easily, but had the street smarts needed to keep himself out of trouble. If you asked almost anyone, they would say that he was unflappable.

Then again, it wasn't every day his little brother was locked inside a temple.

Really, Lance knew that they would be fine. Merlin was smart enough to calm himself down, and Arthur didn't seem like the type to panic easily. But Lance had a right to be just a little freaked out. If Merlin had tripped and set off a trap…

Lance would never forgive himself. And so his first, natural reaction to seeing the door wedged shut was to start yelling. He didn't know exactly what he was saying, but he finally registered a voice coming from the other side of the door.

_Merlin._

After panic came relief. His little brother was safe. He was telling Lance to shut up because they were OK and to _open the damned door already, _and it was all OK. So he went to go get George, because George loved to help and the doorstop was really big. Merlin sounded a bit grumpy to be left with Arthur again, but Lance could already tell that the two of them were friends, so Lance told him to shut up, and went on his way.

Soon enough, George was climbing the temple stairs after Lance. They started to pull the boulder back from the door, but it was stuck. No matter how hard they pulled, it just wouldn't move. Suddenly, Lance had an idea.

"Merlin." He whispered. Merlin couldn't hear him through the stone walls, so he whispered a bit louder. "Merlin!" No answer. After three more tries, he had finally captured the warlock's attention. "I'm invoking code Omega. To your left, about 30 degrees, outside the door."

Almost like magic, the boulder creaked and fell over a bit. With one final heave, Lance pulled the boulder over and opened the door.

Merlin and Arthur were out like a shot. Merlin had made it a couple steps further than Arthur into the chamber before the door had slammed shut, and so he ended up nearly tripping over Arthur in an attempt to get out.

"Don't be such a girl, Merlin." Arthur said. Then he scratched his head. "You know Lance, I saw something gold flash just before you got the door open. Maybe it was part of the trap."

Lance and Merlin exchanged amused glances. It seemed that even in this reincarnation, Arthur would be the last to know.

"Don't worry about it. We'll use Kilagharrah to set off the rest of the traps. Lance was talking about Merlin's favourite lizard. It had climbed into their tent a few nights after they arrived, and his little brother had insisted that it stayed.

"Uh, no. That just isn't acceptable." Merlin said. "We can use a remove controlled car or something. You touch Kilagharrah, you die. Got it?"

"Always so violent." Lance clucked.

The third emotion that Lance felt throughout that scene was betrayal.

Arthur had said that he would keep Merlin safe. Merlin said that he would keep Merlin safe. And even though neither of them got hurt, he realized that both of them had lied.

No one messed with Merlin without going through Lance. He and Arthur would have to have a talk later.

XXX

Somehow, word about their adventure had already reached the main camp before they even finished walking down the stairs. At the bottom, they were greeted- Or rather, Merlin was greeted by two girls. One of them was small and pale, with ratty short hair and a frail build. The other girl was taller, older, and curvier with an exotic sort of beauty.

Arthur's mouth fell open a little. The exotic one was hugging Merlin, and then she smiled and her whole face just lit up. Her hair was frizzy from the humidity, but her eyes were sweet and her smile was the most beautiful thing.

She turned towards Arthur, and he almost didn't know what he was doing. He could see that he had extended his hand, and he felt his face forming a smile and some words, but if you asked him what had happened later, he wouldn't be able to explain.

"Hi, I'm Gwen."

_Gwen. Gwen. Gwen? Where have I heard that before? Ah! Quick, say something witty!_

"Like Guinevere?" he asked. _Real witty. I bet every Arthur she's ever met asks her that. Stupid. Stupid other Arthurs. Stupid Arthur._

She gave him a half smile, and Arthur realized that he was still shaking her hand. He quickly let it drop to his side, wiping the sweat off.

"Sorry, I didn't catch your name?" she asked.

"Would you believe me if I told you it was Arthur?" he said jokingly.

"That depends. Do you have a sister named Morgana, a wizard sidekick named Merlin, and a father called Uther?"

"Well…"

Her jaw dropped. "You're kidding!"

"Merlin isn't my sidekick, or a wizard. But the rest… Is some sort of bizarre coincidence."

"I have a brother named Elyan. And Mordred was the name of a knight of the round table." She didn't mention that Mordred was the one who was prophesized to kill Arthur.

"And Lance is really Lancelot is disguise."

"Don't forget about Gwaine."

"Gwaine?"

"The drunk one. He's a security guard."

"Hmm. What about Percival?"

"There's a Percival who works as a cultural expert. Oh, and a Nimeuh who works in restoration, and a Morgause who works as a translator."

"Now do you believe me?"

"Yes, I think I do. But there's one last test."

"Try me."

"Can you pull a sword out of a stone?"

They cracked up. "If I ever come across a sword in a stone, I'll be sure to try." Arthur answered. They looked around and saw the others had left sometime during their conversation, and Gaius was calling.

"My lady, it seems I have to go." Arthur bowed, grinning like a madman.

"My lord." Gwen answered, curtsying.

Was it just Arthur, or was his summer looking up already?

XXX

Merlin felt pretty good. He had held himself together quite nicely back there, even though he just wanted to crack up the whole time. He had memories of hiding in closets and under beds, probably from when he was a kid. Merlin didn't really remember being a kid, but that was OK.

Freya had greeted him once he got down from the temple, and they had snuck away from Gwen and Arthur. Freya was sure that this was some sort of Camp or Prophecy, and wanted to get them back together.

It was natural that Merlin and Freya would become friends. They were both some of the youngest people at the camp, but you really couldn't force the sort of instant connection that they had. The first day that they had met, Merlin had been struck by everything about Freya, and it seemed that she felt the same way about him.

They fit together. They had both grown up far too fast; Merlin when he lost his birth parents, and Freya when she was diagnosed with cancer. They both were hard workers and extremely determined, and they had both come to the same realization at a young age. They knew that they weren't going to live forever, and they knew that angsting over the past wouldn't change anything.

Sometimes it almost felt like they could communicate without words. It was eerie. Earlier in the season, Freya had broken her finger after a particularly hard chemo treatment. She had just sat down on the curb and wanted to stop feeling so sick and lonely, and then a few minutes later Merlin had turned up. He had sat down beside her, and then Freya knew that she would be OK.

They both thought now that it was all going to be OK. Their fingers started to drift closer together.

Gaius called them to hurry up and come see what he had found.

XXX

That was how the reincarnated court of Camelot found themselves sitting in Gaius's tent under the sweltering midday sun. Those present included Merlin, Lance, Gwen, Freya, Arthur, and Leon, because Leon seemed to be able to be everywhere at the same time.

Gaius spoke.

"I analysed the poison in the darts that were used in the temple."

"And?" Leon prompted.

"The poison isn't old at all. In fact, I don't think the darts were either. I found traces of a type of metal from northern Canada against the wood. And wouldn't the wooden darts of rotted away from the heat by now? No, I don't think the Mayans installed these traps. I think that someone is trying to keep up away from the temple."

"Who?" Leon asked.

"I don't know. I just hope we can find out before it's too late."

**HAHAHA! It's been four chapters and I'm still updating on time. Seriously, that's some kind of record:)**

**Go to **** www virtualfortunecookies com/ to ********collect your virtual cookies if you review. They only come in one flavour, but they give you good advice:)**

******Without the breaks in between the words. You all knew that though:)**


	5. Roasting on the Roasting-Stick

Gwaine.

Gwaine was a twenty-two year old security guard. He had started cadets from some extremely young age (He never was good at remembering specific dates) and from there, had went to military college, and eventually he became a security guard.

Gwaine liked to think of himself as a straightforward kind of guy. As long as he had a place to sleep and some alcohol in his system, he would be happy.

And then he met Merlin. They had met in the most comical of circumstances. Gwaine, drunk, had gotten into a bar fight and had been kicked out. Merlin had been there, then. He still smiled when he thought about that day.

Merlin had helped Gwaine catch a bus home. He didn't ask for Gwaine to help pay, or for any thanks, he just helped him. Gwaine remembered wondering what a kid Merlin's age was doing out in the city after dark, but he got the feeling that his questions wouldn't be welcome.

Two minutes after they got off the bus, it had veered off course and crashed into the river. Merlin and Gwaine were the last two passengers off. Only the driver died, a middle aged man named Balinor.

He woke up the next morning with a wicked hangover. His boss had left a voicemail firing him, and his rent was far overdue. So Gwaine packed his bags, signed up for the army, and never thought of it again.

After a while, Gwaine started to grow tired of the army. He loved the thrills from fighting, he loved the feeling of family that came from being part of a squadron, but seeing the real people who got hurt when they fought was too much. He left the army, arranged a meeting with a small non-profit looking to explore the rainforest for some ruins, and less than a week later they hired him.

When he saw Merlin the second time, he was laughing with some skinny girl of around his age. Any idiot could tell that Merlin liked her, so Gwaine crept quietly by. But a couple hours later, he had told the girl, one Freya Du Lac that she should go and start dating the guy already. Merlin had met Gwaine again about an hour later. When Gwaine had started talking to him, Merlin just looked a bit confused and asked where they had met. A quick conversation had told him everything that he needed to know; Merlin didn't really remember much from when he was a kid.

So without Merlin knowing, Gwaine owed him. It looked like he could finally help him some way.

XXX

Merlin called in a favour about two weeks into the summer. Apparently there had been some trouble up in the temple, and Merlin needed a list of people who had left the camp in the past couple weeks.

"Sure thing, one second…" Gwaine answered. "OK, so the only people who left camp in the last two weeks are you, Arthur and Morgana, Freya, Morgause, Percival, Leon, and Nimueh… So basically half the camp." Gwaine shrugged. "Sorry I can't help you anymore."

"Trust me that helps." Merlin said, waving a cheery good-bye to his friend.

Afterwards, Gwaine looked over the list again. Morgana and Arthur were above suspicion, as was Merlin. Freya had good reasons to leave the camp. That just left Morgause, Percival, Leon, and Nimueh. If Gwaine had to hedge his bets, he would say that Morgause was behind it all. As far as he was concerned, Morgause hid her immorality behind a layer of sickly sweetness.

But then, Gwaine wasn't exactly the best judge of character. Percival could be the traitor, for all he knew!

XXX

"Merlin, I need you to go find a flower." Gaius said.

"If you want to charm Alice, you can collect your own flowers." Merlin replied.

"It's not for Alice. Look here." Gaius slid a book towards Merlin. Merlin scanned the page.

"You think that they used this flower to add poison to the darts?"

"I would need a sample to figure that out."

"OK, I'll go now." Merlin turned to leave.

"Wait- Bring someone with you." Gaius called. He saw Merlin nod, and then the boy was gone.

XXX

In the end, Lance, Arthur, and Mordred had all come with Merlin. It was a swelteringly hot day, but at least out in the forest there were tree's to give them shade. The area surrounding the temple didn't have that luxury.

One of the things Arthur had been most confused about when he arrived at the dig was the location of the temple. It just didn't make sense for them to try and build out in the middle of nowhere.

Lancelot was happy to provide the answer. Apparently, the Mayans practiced 'slash and burn' agriculture. They would burn down parts of the rainforest and use it as farmland. They would abandon it once the soil became too poor, and new rainforest would grow in. They thought that the temple they were working at now was an older one, and that all of the surrounding rainforest was secondary growth. It didn't explain why the area surrounding the temple was still tree-free, but Arthur would take whatever answers he could get.

And then something hard hit his head. He let out an impressive string of swear words, looking up.

Was that a monkey?

Something else hit his head from the other side. He whirled around. The monkey was standing a few feet away from him.

"This is NOT normal monkey behaviour!" Merlin yelled. Arthur turned around and saw his companions getting pelted by the… Whatever it was they were being bombarded by.

"What do we bloody do?" Arthur asked. Another Thingie hit his head.

"Why are you asking me?" Merlin asked.

"Who else do I ask?"

"Lance!"

"Lance! What do we do?"

"I'm a marine biologist, not a monkey expert!" Lance responded.

"Here's an idea: Let's run!" Merlin yelled.

"Great idea, Merlin! Where do we run?" Arthur replied sarcastically.

"That way!" Merlin pointed wildly into the undergrowth, then started crashing towards his destination. He had only gotten a few steps before tripping and hitting his head on a discarded Thingie. He was out cold.

"C'mon!" Arthur yelled to Lance. They each took one of Merlin's arms and started to drag him deeper into the forest as quickly as they could. About five minutes later, they stopped, panting heavily.

"I think we lost them." Arthur lowered Merlin to the ground. Then he dropped down beside his friend.

"What were those?" Lance asked. "I don't know much about monkeys, but that can't be normal."

"Nothing here is normal. I mean, half the camp is named after the Arthurian legends. That can't be normal."

"Next thing you know, we'll both be dating Gwen, Merlin will be an old man wizard, and Freya will be immortal."

"I'll be a warlock, actually." Merlin said groggily. He sat up and leaned against the tree. "What on earth just happened?"

"You got yourself knocked out and Arthur and I had to drag you away. Honestly Merlin, it's amazing you lasted as long as you did without us."

"Hey, I'm not that incompetent."

"Right."

"Fourteen years, Lance. I must have been some tough little scrapper."

"Like you remember any of it." Lance said. Arthur laughed because it was supposed to be funny, but in reality he had no idea what they were going on about.

"That sounds like a good story, you'll have to share it sometime." Arthur commented.

"Or not." Merlin grinned. Grinning seemed to be his automatic response to everything; Danger, grin, happiness, grin, annoyance, grin.

People-puzzles always were Arthurs favourite.


End file.
